Gog and Magog
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Gog and Magog From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Dhul-Qarnayn with the help of some jinn, building the Iron Wall to keep the barbarian Gog and Magog from civilized peoples. (16th century Persian miniature). Part of a series on Eschatology Buddhist eschatology[show] Christian eschatology[show] Hindu eschatology[show] Islamic eschatology[show] Jewish eschatology[show] Zoroastrian eschatology[show] Inter-religious[show] v t e Gog u-Magog; Arabic: Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj) are ּגוֹג ּומָ גוֹג :Gog and Magog (Hebrew names that appear in the Old Testament, and in numerous subsequent references in other works, notably the Book of Revelation, as well as in the scripture of Islam, the Qur'an. They are sometimes individuals, sometimes peoples, and sometimes geographic regions. Their context can be either genealogical (as Magog in Genesis 10:2) or eschatological and apocalyptic, as in the Book of Ezekiel and Revelation. The passages from Ezekiel and Revelation in particular have attracted attention due to their prophetic descriptions of conflicts said to occur near the "end times". Contents 1 Etymology 2 Texts o 2.1 Genesis and Chronicles o 2.2 Ezekiel o 2.3 Intertestamental period o 2.4 Book of Revelation o 2.5 Qur'an 3 Historical identifications o 3.1 Classical and medieval worlds o 3.2 Middle Ages o 3.3 Russia o 3.4 George Bush 4 Gog and Magog in Britain and Ireland o 4.1 Giants o 4.2 Oak trees o 4.3 Gog Magog Hills o 4.4 Magog in Ireland 5 Rock formations o 5.1 Western Australia o 5.2 Tasmania o 5.3 New Zealand o 5.4 Colorado o 5.5 British Columbia 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External links Etymology The etymology of both the names Gog and Magog remains uncertain. The ma- at the beginning of Magog may indicate a land, or it may mean "from", so that Magog means "of the land of Gog" or "from Gog". Gog may originate as the Hebrew version of the name of Gyges of Lydia, who made his kingdom a great power in the early 7th century BC, but this explanation, although common, is not universally accepted.[1] A different theory is that "Magog" might be a reference to Babylon, by turning BBL ("Babylon" in Hebrew script, which originally had no vowel-signs) into MGG (Magog), but this account, like the others, has problems.[2] Texts Genesis and Chronicles For more details on this topic, see Magog (Bible). Chapter 10 of the Book of Genesis, commonly called the "Table of Nations", names some 70 descendants of Noah from whom "the nations spread out over the earth after the Deluge." Noah has three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and Magog is one of the sons (the second) of Japheth: This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.[3] 1 Chronicles begins with a list of genealogies repeating that in the Table of Nations but continuing well beyond. In chapter 5, among the many descendants of Reuben, first of the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob, it mentions an individual named Gog.[4] Ezekiel The two names first appear together in chapters 38 and 39 of the Book of Ezekiel, but here Magog is a place and not an individual:[5] Son of man, direct your face towards Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince, leader of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy concerning him. Say: Thus said the Lord: Behold, I am against you, Gog, the prince, leader of Meshech and Tubal.[6] Ezekiel lived in the first half of the 6th century BC, and the earliest possible date for the prophecy is c. 585 BC.[7] Scholars disagree, however, as to whether Ezekiel 38-39 was part of the original text (compare, for example, Joseph Blenkinsopp, who believes it to be a late addition,[8] and Daniel Block, who argues for its original status).[9] Its prophecy of a savage foe from the north is based on Jeremiah 1:3-16, where Jeremiah is talking about the Babylonians;[8] Ezekiel turns this into an eschatological enemy who will come "in the latter years," an apocalypse at the end of time.[1] Gog's allies - Meshech and Tubal, Persia, Cush and Put, and "Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north" - are all, with the exception of Persia, taken from the Table of Nations.[8] Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and Beth Togarmah can be identified with real 8th and 7th century peoples, kings or kingdoms of Anatolia, modern Turkey.[10] "Why the prophet's gaze should have focused on these particular nations is unclear," says Daniel Block in a recent study of Ezekiel 25-48, but suggests that their remoteness and reputation for violence and mystery "made Gog and his confederates perfect symbols of the archetypal enemy, rising against God and his people."[11] Cush (Sudan or Ethiopia) and Put (Libya) are sons of Ham according to Genesis 10, while Persia is located to the east, and is not mentioned in Genesis 10 at all. Since Ezekiel insists on a northerly situation of Gog and his allies, many commentators believe that these three names were added later, although this too is disputed.[12] Gog is to be defeated and buried in the Valley of Hamon-Gog, Israel. [13] Intertestamental period Around the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Sibylline Oracles mention the "land of Gog and Magog" as "situated in the midst of Aethiopian rivers", but in a second mention links it with the "Marsians and Dacians", in eastern Europe; in both cases they are about to receive "woe," and according to Boe, "there can be little doubt about the direct use of Ezekiel's oracles" in their composition.[14] The Book of Jubilees, known from about the same time, mentions Magog as a son of Japheth to whom land is allocated, while Gog is a region on Japheth's borders.[15] 1 Enoch tells how God stirs up the Medes and Parthians (instead of Gog and Magog) to attack Jerusalem, where they are destroyed; an indebtedness to Ezekiel 38-39 has also been asserted.[16] In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Messiah will rule "over all the peoples and Magog,"[17] and Magog is allocated land next to Gomer, the first son of Japheth.[18] The sole fragment where the two names are combined as "Gog and Magog" is too small to be meaningful.[16] The 1st century Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum is notable for listing and naming seven of Magog's sons, and mentions his "thousands" of descendants.[19] The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, made during this period, occasionally introduces the name of Gog where the Hebrew original has something else. Thus at Numbers 24:7 it replaces Agag, a mysterious but clearly powerful figure, with Gog, and at Amos 7:1 the Greek has Gog as the leader of a threatening locust-like army.[1] The Greek translation of Ezekiel takes Gog and Magog to be synonyms for the same country, a step which paved the way for the Book of Revelation to turn "Gog from Magog" into "Gog and Magog."[2] Book of Revelation By the end of the 1st century, Jewish tradition had long since changed Ezekiel's Gog from Magog into Gog and Magog, the ultimate enemies of God's people, to be destroyed in the final battle.[20] The author of the Book of Revelation tells how he sees in a vision Satan rallying Gog and Magog, "the nations in the four corners of the Earth," to a final battle with Christ and his saints: When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the Earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.[21] Ezekiel's Gog from Magog was a symbol of the evil darkness of the north and the powers hostile to God,[1] but in Revelation, Gog and Magog have no geographic location, and instead represent the nations of the world, banded together for the final assault on Christ and those who follow him.[22] Qur'an The Monster of Gog and Magog, by Zakariya al-Qazwini (1203–1283). In Surat Al-Kahf ("The Cave", 18:83–98) of the Qur'an, a pious warrior king called Dhul- Qarnayn journeys to the place between the East and the West, and in the place between the two mountains he finds people who scarcely understood a word. "18:94 They said: "O Dhul-Qarnain! the Gog and Magog (People) do great mischief on earth: shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us and them?" Dhu'l-Qarnayn doesn't take any tribute from them, and makes a wall made of iron between the mountains to keep Gog and Magog out, but warns that it will be broken at the time appointed by Allah (before the Day of Resurrection).[23] Surat Al-Anbiya ("The Prophets", 21:96–100) describes Allah threatening to open "the dam of Gog and Magog" to let those people descend from above. Also, those forces from above can be intended as "false gods", whose worshippers will be damned in the Last Days. [24] Historical identifications Classical and medieval worlds Separate passages in the "Jewish Antiquities" and "Jewish War" of the 1st century Jewish historian and scholar Josephus show that Jews of that time identified Gog and Magog with the Scythians: Alexander the Great, Josephus said, had locked these horse-riding barbarians of the far north behind the Caucasus mountains with iron gates.[25] This gate is situated in Georgia, near the Russian border in the Caucasus mountains.